City of Angels

I just got back from a week long mission trip to Los Angeles and I fell in love with that amazing city. We stayed right in the heart of Hollywood in the gym of the Frist Presbyterian Church and we spent the week working with the many Church groups that serve the homeless.

I was amazed to find out the number of homeless that live in LA. It is the Mecca of homelessness in the United States with a population close to 80,000! We alternated between those ministries that cared for their physical or material needs and those who cared fro their social and spiritual needs. It was interesting to me that the homeless seemed to respond so much better to those groups that provided opportunities for them to socialize and do some group work. Probably the most effective thing we did was hold a simple coffee hour where we would just provide coffee and safe space to mingle and talk together. Hearing their stories and allowing them to talk about what led to their situation was so helpful. I heard about their families and their hopes and dreams. I got the sense that the biggest problem in the homeless community there was isolation and not feeling human or respected and loved. It was an awesome trip.

I also was amazed at how much the Churches and other non-profits were doing for this vulnerable community that has reached crisis level in the city. The government seemed non-existent to help on the streets and often made things worse. Overall though I loved the city and the people there. The weather is perfect and so enjoyable. I can't wait to go back.

Quote: FrGamble

I got the sense that the biggest problem in the homeless community there was isolation and not feeling human or respected and loved. It was an awesome trip.

In a community just north of Los Angeles someone put up a mail box at "The Homeless Tree" and thus the homeless could register for food stamps and other programs even though it was just a road side tree and nothing else. A motorist came along and rammed the box into oblivion nearly taking several homeless with him.

I hope in your ministry you delivered some sermons on how wrong it is to go about with shopping carts and be an eyesore to decent people. Race is a suspect category but Poverty and Cleanliness are not. I actually spoke to a family that had "lived" for awhile at that tree, he was a Texan who had been over all of Texas and Oklahoma looking for work in the Oil Services field (it was all he knew) at a time when the wholesale price of oil was so low it made little sense to pump oil out of the ground in the USA. So he had relocated to the city but found little in the way of Oil Derricks or government services.

Quote: FrGamble

Overall though I loved the city and the people there. The weather is perfect and so enjoyable. I can't wait to go back.

You were a tourist, of course you
loved it. Try going in July and Aug
when it's 90 every day. Try living
there for a year. The traffic and the
homeless will drive you crazy. What
takes me 12 min to drive where I
live, can easily take 40 min in LA.

I got so sick of the homeless, it's why
I eventually left the state. They broke
into my van constantly, they broke
into the house I was renting over
and over. That was in Santa Barbara,
LA is far worse. Don't let them hoodwink
you with their hardluck stories, a lot of
them love the way they live, panhandling
and living on freebies. Especially the ones
under 30.

Welcome back, glad you were able to do some good on your time off. Glad as well that you liked LA. Seems to be a love it/hate it kind of place. Sorry to say I hated it when I was there, I found it to be in the words of Don Draper, "Detroit with palm trees."

LA does have a huge homeless problem. The area is a perfect storm for it. Year-round tolerable weather. Entertainment industry that attracts dreamers many of who fail to make it big and fall hard. Lets face it, a big drug culture. Illegal aliens who arrive broke. High cost housing. But worst of all is a homeless-industrial complex.

Good work in at least part of Holy Week, Padre!

Quote: AZDuffman

Sorry to say I hated it when I was there, I found it to be in the words of Don Draper, "Detroit with palm trees."
Lets face it, a big drug culture. Illegal aliens who arrive broke. High cost housing. But worst of all is a homeless-industrial complex.

Detroit with palm trees is very accurate. I
remember the first time I went to LA. I
was so excited, I'd seen it TV all my
life. The disappointment was something
I never got over. I think if you get up in
the hills and have money, you can mostly
ignore the hole that the city is. LA is one
large strip mall, they even admit it. Miles
and miles of parking lot malls.

I challenge FrG to visit a few more times
to see if he can maintain his feelings.